Creating PDFs in Adobe Illustrator for Print

The following instructions were written for Adobe Illustrator on a Mac. Instructions for Adobe Illustrator on Windows should be almost identical.

Start by Ensuring You Have a "Poster-sized" Poster:

1. Go to the Transform Palette under the available pallets on the right side of the screen.

(If the Transform palette isn't there, go up to the toolbar, and choose the Window drop down menu. Towards the bottom of the list, there should be a "Transform" option. Click on it to open the palette.)

2. If the dimensions on the right are 10" x 7.5", you haven't set the size of the poster yet. If you have previously entered your dimensions, skip to "Save your finished poster as a PDF" (below). Otherwise, enter the dimensions you'd like the poster to be. At least one dimension must be 41.5" or less. (40" or less if printing for the Whitman Undergraduate Conference.)

--> If you HAVEN'T created your poster yet, create a new file with the size you want, and click OK.

--> If you HAVE created your poster, you'll need to do a little math before clicking OK: To keep your poster proportioned the way you have it set up means that you need to scale it up using the same proportions, for example: 200% = 20" x 15", 300%= 30"x 22.5", etc If you do this resizing on Illustrator, you'll need to copy all your objects, and then move them to a file that is the same size as your new objects, otherwise it will save as the same size as the original object. For Example, if the size of the object is now 40" x 30", you'll need to make sure the new file you're copying the image to is also 40" x 30".

Save Your Finished Poster as a PDF:

1. Choose File from the toolbar and select "Save As."

2. In the Format menu, make sure to select the "Adobe PDF (pdf)" option.

3. Name your poster. (ENTER YOUR FULL NAME IN THE FILE NAME please.)

4. Click OK. Once you have saved the PDF, open the PDF and make sure it looks OK.